Rail-fastener.



G. M; OGTE.

RAIL PASTE-NEH. APPLICATION FILED FEB.15, 1909.

Patented Nov. 30, 1909.

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INVENTOR WITNESSE RAIL FASTENBR APPLICATION FILED FEB. 15, 1909.

Patented Nov. 30,1909.

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INVENTOR ms ATTORNEY GEORGE M.- GGTE, 0F PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAIL-FASTENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 30, 1909.

Application filed February 15, 1909. Serial No. 477,988.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, GEORGE M. co e a citizen of the United States, and residing in the city of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of- Pennsylvania, have invented or discovered new and useful Improvements in Rail-Fasteners, of which the following is a specification.

My invention Consists of new and useful improvements in fasteners used to secure railway rails to the cross-ties or other supports. 1

It more particularly relates to thegeneral type of fasteners shown in my United States Letters Patent Nos. 839,456 and 860,731. In these types of fasteners, the head is provided with one or more faces which grip the rail base and the body, which extends through an aperture in the tie,is secured at its outer end to the tie top by means of a bolt or other member.

I now provide means for securing the end of the fastener to the tie without the use of bolt and nut or any form of threaded engagement, by substituting therefor an arm,

preferably integral with the body of the I fastener, extending upwardly through an aperture in the tie top and a tension member seated in a slot in said arm and bearing against the top of the tie, thereby forcing the head of the fastener down on the rail base. I also provide means for preventing the loosening of the tension member in said slot. I also show my improvement applied to an angle bar securing together the ends of adjacent rails.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section of a portion of a cross tie and of a rail secured thereto by my improved fasteners; Fig. 2 is a perspective of the same on a smaller scale; Fig. 3 is a perspective of the fastener; Fig. 1 is a similar view of the tension member or wedge; Fig. 5 is a perspective showing my invention applied to an angle bar, and Fig. 6 is a perspective showing a slight modification in the fastener.

The following is a detailed'description of the drawings.

1 represents a rail, shown here as the ordinary T type, and 2 represents the tie. The tie shown is the standard tie patented by me in United States Letters Patent No. 890,557, but it will be readily understood that my invention is equally applicable to any type of metal tie or any type of rail.

clamped down on the rail base. shown the fastener 3 as having two engaging 3 is the fastener provided with a head 4 which is extended laterally beyond the body of the fastener, as shown in Fig. 3, to prevent the fastener dropping entirely through the tie top. The fastener may be provided with one or more faces adapted to be I have faces, a and b, to permit the shifting of the rail for regagement to take up wear on the rail head. The body of the fastener 3 extends downwardly through an aperture 5 in the top of the tie between the circumferential corrugation 6 and the rail platform 7 8 is a projection on the top of the fastener body, with rounded surfaces 9-9, adapted to be seated in the interior of corrugation 6 when the fastener is in use and bear against the interior surface of said corrugation.

10 is an arm, preferably integral with the fastener 3, adapted to extend upwardly through an aperture 11 in the tie top. 12 is a vertical slot in said arm 10 running transversely thereof and having its top inclined as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3.

13 is a tension'member or wedge adapted to be seated in slot 12, its rounded bottom 14 bearing against the top of the tie and its upper inclined edge bearing against the in- :clined topof said slot. The bottom of slot 12is always below the top of the tie so that swung, with the interior of corrugation 6 as a center, clamping the face a or b, as the case may be firmly down upon the base of rail 1. The projection 8 is so proportioned that its rounded surfaces, 9-9, remain in contact with .the interior wall of the corrugation 6. The wedge 13 is provided with a number of holes, 1515, in difierent vertical planes through one of which a pin, 16, is driven to secure the wedge rigidly in recess 12 against the jarring of passing traffic. By providing a plurality of such holes, whatever the position of the wedge in the slot, one of the holes will be so located that the pin will bear against the face of the arm 10. The end of the pin may be split or bent over, as shown, to prevent its dislodginent.

lVhere the upper face, a, of the fastener 3, engages the rail base, it is evident that a greater extent of the slot 12 is exposed above the tie top, so that a greater height of wedge is required to rovide the requlred tension, than when the ower face, 72, engages the rail base, the outer end of the fastener being in the latter case titled down lower than in the former case. Thus either a wedge of considerable length is required to perform wedging service in both cases, or, as is preferable, two wedges may be provided, one larger one for use when the engaging face a, is clamped against the rail base and a smaller wedge for use when the engaging face 6 is clamped against the rail base. The type of fasteners shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 6, is intended to permit of rail shift for regagement of the track as when it is necessary to take up wear on the head of the rail.

When it is desired to shift the rail, as, for instance toward the right in Fig. 1, the wedges are removed from the slots, thus releasing the clamping action of the fasteners on the rail base. The rail is then shifted toward the right of the rail platform 7 and the fasteners again wedged into firm engagement with the rail base, the smaller wedge, which had been previously used with the left hand fastener being now used in connection with the right hand fastener whose second face Z) now engages the rail base, and the larger wedge being transferred from the right hand fastener to the left hand fastener whose first face a now engages the rail base. It is evident that shifting the rail will also result in a different tilt to the individual fasteners and consequently the angle between the arm 10 of a fastener and the tie top is not constant. However, the variations do not affect the bearing of the wedge member 13 on the tie top as the bottom edge 14 of the wedge member is rounded thus maintaining proper contact between wedge and tie at all times. This rounded edge of the wedge member, bearing on the tie, en ables the fasteners to rock slightly to assume the jar'and thrusts exerted on the rail by passing traffic.

In Fig. 5 I have shown the angle bar, 17 connecting together the ends of adjacent rails l1, provided with my invention, two fastener bodies, 3 -8=-, being formed integral. with the angle bar, one fastener body being intended to be secured in a manner similar to that described above, to. each of the'two ties straddled by the angle bar 17, but one tie being shown in the said figure for the sake of clearness.

In Fig. 6 I show the fastener 8 with the projection 8 omitted to permit the use of the fastener in connection with a tie not provided with corrugations, for instance the type of tie patented by me in United States Letters Patent No. 859,203.

It will be understood that I do not confine myself to the use of two or more faces, a and Z), but my invention is equally applicable to a non-adjustable fastener, for instance as a fastener having but one engaging face or surface. The invention may be applied to use with any character of tie,

the inclosed or box tie being shown only for the sake of clearness.

The advantages of my invention are many. Among them may be named the doing away with securing bolts or members in which nuts or threaded elements are used, as the same are untrustworthy and expensive and their elimination is desirable in the railway art. There is also a great saving in expense as the parts used in the p notice of my invention are few in number and of the most inexpensive character.

What I desire to claim is:-

1. A fastener intended to secure a rail to a tie consisting of a head adapted to engage the rail, a body adapted to extend through an aperture in the tie, a projection on the upper surface of said body adapted to be seated in a recess in the tie and hold said body out of contact with the under surface of the tie top whereby a center of oscillation is formed for said fastener, an arm integral with said body and extending upwardly through a second aperture in the tie, and a wedge member adapted to be seated in a slot in said arm and bear against the top of the tie, substantially as described.

2. A fastener intended to secure a rail to a tie consisting of a head adapted to engage the rail, a body adapted to extend through an aperture in the tie, a rounded projection on the upper surface of said body adapted to be seated in a corresponding recess in the tie and hold said body out of contact with the under surface of the tie top whereby a center of oscillation is formed for said fastener, an arm integral with said body and extending upwardly through a second aperture in the tie, and a wedge member adapted to be seated in a slot in said arm and bear against the top of the tie, substantially as described.

3. A fastener intended to secure a rail to a tie consisting of a head adapted to engage the rail, a body adapted to extend through an aperture in the tie, a rounded projection on the upper surface of said body adapted to be seated in a corresponding recess in the tie and hold said body out of contact with the under surface of the tie top whereby a center of oscillation is formed for said fastener, an arm integral with said body and extending upwardly through a second aperture in the tie, and a wedge member adapted to be seated in a slot in said arm and having a rounded surface adapted to bear against the top of the tie, substantially as described.

Signed at Pittsburg, Pa, this 13th day of February 1909.

GEORGE M. corn.

\Vitnesses r E. A. LAWRENCE, J. H. HARRISON. 

